


Baby, you can drive my car

by mygalfriday (BrinneyFriday)



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrinneyFriday/pseuds/mygalfriday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Sweetie,” she begins patiently, “You’ve been driving the TARDIS for how long and you still haven’t figured it out? This isn’t the time vortex and actual accidents are possible. I am not letting you drive a car with people on the road.” Scolding delivered, she holds out her hand for the keys, waiting for him to drop them into her palm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby, you can drive my car

**Author's Note:**

  * For [your_bespoke_psychopath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/your_bespoke_psychopath/gifts).



> Because Marta inadvertently reminded me I was going to write this a long time ago. It’s the fluffiest thing I've ever written for them and IDK how I feel about that! Takes place during TIA. Story title from the Beatles song.

The car is the same color as her favorite lipstick. For a moment, she almost allows herself to believe he’d chosen it for that reason but she knows even this far along in his timestream, the thought wouldn’t have crossed his mind. He isn’t her husband yet, and only her husband would remember the color of her lipstick. Still, his taste in cars is as impressive as his taste in time machines.

 

River eyes the vintage red beauty glinting in the sun as they exit the diner, the Doctor rambling about the health merits of milkshakes to her parents – she shakes herself quickly – _Amy and Rory_ as he rummages through his jacket pockets for the keys. River leans against the driver’s side to watch, running an appreciative hand over the gleaming paint job.

 

“It has milk,” he insists. “Anything with milk has to be good for you. It’s practically a law of the universe. And I should know because -”

 

“But Doctor,” Rory frowns. “Chocolate cake contains milk.”

 

The Doctor blinks at him. “What’s your point?”

 

Rory sighs – a put upon sound that River had adopted nearly the moment she said _I do_. “Never mind.”

 

“Aha!” The Doctor holds the car keys aloft and jingles them triumphantly. “Next to the bugle horn – right where I left them!”

 

While Rory stares at his jacket pocket and mouths _bugle horn_ and Amy pats his shoulder in sympathy, the Doctor turns on his heel, spots River leaning against the car, hip cocked and fingers tapping idly against her holster, and scowls.

 

Ah, still sore about his Stetson, then.

 

“Excuse me.”

 

“You’re excused.”

 

She doesn’t move.

 

He sighs. “River, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re sort of in the way.”

 

She raises an eyebrow. “You don’t really think I’m letting you drive, do you?”

 

“Let me?” He sputters. “I am a Time Lord and I do not need your permission to drive _anything_.” When she purses her lips, unimpressed, he deflates. “Why not?”

 

“Sweetie,” she begins patiently, “You’ve been driving the TARDIS for how long and you still haven’t figured it out? This isn’t the time vortex and actual accidents are possible. I am not letting you drive a car with _people_ on the road.” Scolding delivered, she holds out her hand for the keys, waiting for him to drop them into her palm.

 

The Doctor’s mouth drops open and behind him, Amy and Rory take a step back as one unit, obviously hoping to make themselves invisible. “River,” he says through gritted teeth. “This is my car.”

 

“Bought it, did you?”

 

He flounders. “Er, borrowed.”

 

“Oh. Like how you _borrowed_ the TARDIS?”

 

Amy coughs to cover a snort.

 

The Doctor flails his arms, glowers, and finally jabs a finger in her direction. “I drove here without incident, if you hadn’t noticed!” He sniffs and adds under his breath, “Hat murderess.”

 

Definitely still sore about the Stetson.

 

Glancing behind her at the driver’s side through the window, River smirks. “Yes, you did.”

 

The Doctor preens, tweaking his bowtie.

 

“With the handbrake on.”

 

Amy buries her grinning face in Rory’s shoulder.

 

His smug smile fading, the Doctor gapes at her in outrage. “What? No I didn’t!” He crowds close to her and peers into the driver’s window, unintentionally pinning her to the car as he does so. River inhales sharply and the scent of sand and stars, chocolate milkshakes and tweed hits her like a sudden reminder of home. The Teselecta had been very thorough. Clearing her throat, she stifles the ache of longing and keeps her hands to herself as the Doctor finally pulls away, pouting. “You’re still not driving her.”

 

“Her?”

 

“Sally.”

 

“It’s not a Mustang!”

 

“Don’t care. It’s a cool name.”

 

She sighs, eyes narrowing. “Give me the keys or I’ll take them by force.”

 

“You just try, River Song.” He glances down, as if contemplating stuffing them down his trousers, and then thinks better of it, deciding it probably wouldn’t deter her. It definitely wouldn’t. Instead, he curls his fingers tighter around them and lifts his chin stubbornly.

 

“Sweetie,” she tries again, drawing on her admittedly limited supply of Pond Patience. “We both know I’m the better driver -”

 

He gasps as if she’d shot him, funnily or not so funnily enough, depending on your sense of humor. River – very much of the ‘laugh or cry’ variety – stifles a smirk.

 

“- and I think it would be very irresponsible of you not to hand over the keys to a more experienced, superior driver.”

 

“Superior?!” Red in the face and spluttering, the Doctor finally snaps, “I am a _brilliant_ driver! I used to win _races_!”

 

“Bicycle races.”

 

“I have medals!”

 

“From intergalactic spelling bees.”

 

This time, Amy doesn’t even try to contain her snort. “Oh my god, Doctor. I didn’t know you were such a nerd. I mean, I suspected but -”

 

The Doctor flushes. “Spelling bees are a highly competitive, respected sport, Pond!”

 

“For nerds.”

 

He sputters.

 

River, head full of images of an astronaut suit rising from the water to greet an empty beach, snaps, “Keys, Doctor!”

 

He clutches them to his chest, obstinate as any toddler. “No.”

 

River throws a glance to her parents, smiles winningly at them, and reaches out with quick, well-trained reflexes, yanking the Doctor to her by his bowtie before he can blink. He squeaks his protest but she tightens her hold on the bowtie, looking right into his eyes – one in particular – and hissing, “You are not driving two machines at once, you clumsy idiot. Now hand over the keys or I will hotwire this car and leave you here.” She releases him abruptly and steadies him when he loses his balance, smoothing his bowtie and smiling gently up at him. “Okay, sweetie?”

 

Pouting severely, he drops the keys into her waiting palm. “Fine. But I get shotgun.”

 

River unlocks the car and he clambers in with all his previous enthusiasm, their squabble forgotten as he buckles his seatbelt. As Rory ducks into the backseat, Amy pauses beside River, eyebrow raised. “You have _got_ to teach me how you do that.”

 

River winks at her mother. “Spoilers.”

 

As soon as the keys are in the ignition, the sound of country music fills the car at full blast and River glances at her husband with silently judging eyes. He scrambles for the volume knob and mutters defensively, “I was setting the mood.”

 

One hand on the steering wheel as she eases the car onto the street, she drops a hand to his thigh. “There are other ways.”

 

He squeaks, glancing behind them. “River!”

 

It’s his scandalized _parents are watching_ tone, and while River inwardly cheers to hear it again, she calmly removes her hand, humming under her breath to the sound of Patsy Cline. Pressing down a little harder on the accelerator and pleased by the purr of the engine, she murmurs, “Not bad for a station wagon,” and watches the speedometer climb.

 

The rush of speeding down a highway under a blue sky, her parents in the back seat and her husband beside her is entirely different from the rush of jumping blindly and hoping the Doctor will be there to catch her or being surrounded with only one shot left but it’s a rush nonetheless and River smiles to herself as the wind hits her face.

 

“Erm, River,” the Doctor says, sounding nervous. “The speed limit is thirty-five.”

 

“And?”

 

“Unless the speedometer is broken – and it was working just fine when _I_ was driving – you’re nearing seventy-five.”

 

Glancing over and spotting his white-knuckled grip on the door handle, she rolls her eyes. “Sweetie, I’ve stolen enough cars to know how to handle them.” She winces as he turns to look at her with wide eyes. “Driven. I meant _driven_.”

 

“You’ve stolen cars?” He smirks, eyes suddenly dark and delighted. “Oh, you bad, bad girl.”

 

“Oi!” Amy leans over between them, scowling. “Save the flirting for when we’re parked, yeah?”

 

The Doctor drops his gaze and fidgets. “Sorry, Pond.”

 

_Yes, mummy._

 

Distracted as Amy settles back into her seat, River takes a curve a little too sharply and is rewarded with the Doctor’s panicked, “River! Be careful with Sally! She’s a classic.”

 

She grits her teeth and takes the car up to eighty, just to hear him swallow nervously.

 

“You need to turn right here.”

 

“No, I don’t.”

 

“You don’t even know where we’re going!”

 

“I know everything.”

 

“ _River_.” He growls as she passes the street he’d indicated and takes a left turn instead. “This is not how you get there!”

 

“It’s a shortcut,” she says, and honestly, it only shaves about a minute and a half off their drive time but winding him up is such fun. She deserves it, considering what she’s about to go through – again. “If you’d installed a satnav, you’d know that.”

 

Sinking back into his seat, he taps his temple and mutters petulantly, “I do have satnav. In _here_ is my satnav.”

 

“Well, you are over 900 years old,” Rory supplies from the backseat. “Maybe you need a program upgrade.”

 

The Doctor sighs woefully. “Et tu, Roranicus?”

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Don’t pout, sweetie,” River reaches over and turns the radio down as something with banjos begins to play. “It’s just that you’re not 200 anymore. Your sense of direction is bound to be a bit rusty.”

 

“My sense of direction is tip-top!”

 

River wisely says nothing and allows the incredulous silence that fills the car to speak for itself. The Doctor turns in his seat and levels Amy and Rory with a pitiful stare but they refuse to raise their eyes from their laps and he scowls, turning back around with a huff. “Oh fine. Side with the hat murdering car thief who spends her days in prison. _Fine_. Not like I showed you all of time and space or anything.”

 

River bites her lip against a smile – the sight of him pouting still fills her with a terrifying rush of affection – and finally eases her foot off the accelerator, slowing the car as she pulls off onto the beach and slows to a stop in the sand. “There, see? Shortcut.”

 

Amy and Rory don’t wait for the Doctor’s grumbled response or even for River to turn off the engine, grabbing the picnic basket and scrambling out before they find themselves caught in the middle of another domestic. As the car door shuts behind them, the atmosphere inside changes instantly. River and the Doctor watch them run down the hill, laughing and kicking up sand in their wake. They have no idea what’s coming and as much as River is afraid for them, she is even more frightened of seeing their grief – of having to look into her mother’s eyes and lie. But she will. It’s what she does – what she will always do.

 

And all for him.

 

The Doctor clears his throat. “You know what has to be done?”

 

She shuts her eyes and nods once.

 

“River,” he begins, sounding pained, and she starts but does not open her eyes when his warm hand covers her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry. Not just for what’s about to happen, but what comes after. I said -”

 

“Doesn’t matter.” She opens her eyes and smiles softly at him. “You’re forgiven.” Turning her hand over, she laces their fingers together. “Always and completely.”

 

He hasn’t said those words to her yet, but he will, in just a few minutes.

 

His face softens, suddenly full of the infinite tenderness she so rarely sees from him anymore, and he slides across the seat, gathering her into his arms as she blinks away tears. “My River,” he whispers, lips pressed to her hairline. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

 

She raises her head from his chest and looks into hazel eyes that are a perfect replica of the ones she knows so well. “You have it anyway.”

 

He smiles sadly, cradling her jaw in his hand, and slowly guides her mouth to his, kissing her – a sweet press of his lips that instantly morphs into something altogether more desperate and heated than he’d intended, him trying to comfort her and River wishing she could wrap her arms around the man inside this robot replica and give him the comfort he gives her so easily. They cling to each other, seeking something no one else can ever give and River threads her fingers through his hair, thinking of a wedding that never was and will always be, the hot slide of the Doctor’s mouth over hers and his hands pressing into her back.

 

When they finally part to the sound of Amy’s wild cheering down the beach and her shouts of _Finally!_ and _Lay another one on ‘er, Raggedy Man!_ River gives a mortified laugh and buries her face in his neck, shaking fingers curling into his bowtie. The Doctor chuckles softly and twines his fingers in her hair.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, she will probably be more scarred by this than you later.”

 

Pulling away with another laugh, River straightens his bowtie and says, “Well, it’s still not as bad as the time Rory walked in on -” She stops, grimacing.

 

The Doctor looks horrified. “What? He walked in on what?”

 

“Sorry sweetie,” she says. “Spoilers.”

 

“River! You can’t just say something like that and not finish! What were we doing? Did he have this sword?” He gapes after her as she opens the car door and climbs out. “ _River_!”


End file.
